Say Goodbye

TWENTY-FOUR

THE BOY WAS BACK. HE RETURNED ONE BRIGHT AFTERNOON, obediently knocking on her back door, so she put him to work splitting firewood. He labored for over an hour, long enough to shed his shirt, revealing his scrawny chest, painfully bony ribs. Afterward, she made him a cheese omelet, with four thick pieces of toast and two glasses of milk. He ate it all, sopping his toast along the plate to get the last of the omelet grease, then licking each finger.

They moved on to inside chores. She showed him how to jam kindling into the window frames as extra security. Then sent him to the basement for her box of Christmas ornaments. He returned with the box in both arms and a fat brown house spider on his shoulder. When she tried to swish the spider off him, he got offended and insisted on sitting in her kitchen, playing with the thing as if it were a pet.

“Spiders won’t hurt you,” he told her. “Spiders kill insects, not people. ’Sides, spiders are really cool. Have you ever tasted a spiderweb?”

She left him with his pet and tied Christmas bells around the handles of her front and back doors, the poor woman’s home security system. She had a few final chores to do, but first, she needed to run two errands.

“Well, child, are you coming or not?”

He scrambled to his feet. “Where are we going?”

“Hardware store.”

She struggled into her coat, her hat, her gloves. The boy only had on a thin shirt, so she sent him upstairs to Joseph’s room. He returned with a flannel top that fell almost to his ankles. She dug through the entryway closet until she found one of her mother’s old navy blue coats. That fit him better than her brother’s gear.

They hit the driveway, the boy stopping expectantly next to the garage.

“Don’t be foolish, child. God gave us legs for a reason.”

“God gave us cars for a reason, too,” the boy retorted, which made her cackle in surprise.

“Sold the car nearly ten years ago,” she informed him. “At my age, I have a hard enough time walkin’ a straight line, let alone drivin’ one.”

She headed down the hill, the boy falling in step beside her. She was too slow for him, so after a bit, he scampered forward and to the side, advancing, then retreating, in that puppylike way young boys had. He kicked at slush piles, jumped into puddles. Coated his borrowed clothes in muck.

It didn’t bother her. A fine young boy like him should be playing and jumping and getting covered in muck.

He should not, however, be spending his time with an old woman.

It took her nearly an hour before she arrived at the local hardware store. The boy walked in with her, but once inside, she lost track of him, having to concentrate. She needed chain locks. Three of them. Something sturdy that wouldn’t snap.

The price of steel locks made her blink, her hands trembling on her purse.

In the end, she bought only two and it was painful at that.

She discovered the boy outside the store when she was done, waiting for her.

“Now what?”

“Groceries. Young man, you can eat.”

She hobbled off for the convenience store. The boy bounded along beside her.

Mel was at the register. Looked up at her entry, raising his hand in greeting. His face stilled when he saw the boy, his hand dropping to his side, but he didn’t say anything. He appeared alert, however, watchful.

“I want Froot Loops,” the boy said.

“Too expensive.”

“Please, please, please.”

“Child, I buy food, not puffs of sugar. You want Froot Loops, buy ’em yourself.”

The boy wandered off to eye the candy bars. Rita stared at eggs and wondered when the whole world had gotten so expensive. She had twelve dollars left. Had to last her at least a week. But the boy obviously needed to eat more.

She would start making more omelets, beating water with the eggs to stretch the supply. She could make her own pasta, too, used to all the time. Big egg noodles tossed with the canned tomatoes in her basement would make a fine meal.

She wished she could buy orange juice, the boy could use the vitamins and it tasted so nice and tart on the tongue. In the end, she settled for powdered milk, which would probably make the boy fuss, though after all these years, it was fine enough for her.

Sausage was out of the question, bacon, too. She found the expired bread, and some mealy apples in the bargain bin. She’d mash the apples into sauce, toast the bread. Thinking along those lines, she found some half-priced beef and moldy carrots and onions, perfect for a stew.

Still, it broke her heart to count out each precious penny, and get only two bags in return. She eyed Mel expectantly, waiting for him to go into the back and complete their little routine.

Instead, he was eyeing the boy, who was still in front of the candy bars.

“Friend of yours?” he asked Rita stiffly.

“Helped me split some wood.”

That took some of the starch out of Mel’s spine. Now, he merely appeared uncomfortable. “I wouldn’t give him inside chores,” he muttered under his breath, but still loud enough she was sure the sharp-eared boy had heard.

“Mind your business, Mel. I’ll mind mine.” She took the two bags, struggling a bit to get them down from the counter, and Mel had the good grace to suddenly flush.

“Sorry, Rita, let me help you-”

But she no longer felt like dealing with the likes of him. She made her own way to the door. “Child,” she called, because she didn’t like saying the name Scott, didn’t think it fit him any more than her brother’s old shirt. “We’re done now.”

The boy dutifully came to her, following her out the door. He had his hands in his pockets. She had to clear her throat three times before he took the hint and grabbed one of the bags. Then, once more in silence, they trudged up the road.

A quarter way up, Rita had to stop to catch her breath. Her stomach growled, protesting its light breakfast, as she’d fed her toast to the boy. At her age, she was shrinking year by year anyway. The boy needed the calories in order to grow.

She looked up to find the boy eating a Kit Kat.

“Want one?” he asked politely, right before she grabbed him by the ear.

“Child, where did you get that candy?”

“Ow!”

“Answer me, boy! Did you pay for that chocolate? Go up to the cashier, count out some money when I wasn’t looking?”

“I…I…”

“You stole it, didn’t you!”

“I was just trying to help! You have hardly any money and he has that big store filled with so much food. What’s one little candy bar anyway? He won’t even notice!”

“Show me your pockets.”

She let go of his ear long enough to force him to turn out his pockets. He had two candy bars, a bag of peanuts, and three Slim Jims. She shook her head in disgust.

“Well, there is only one thing left to do.” She picked up the groceries and started marching back down the hill.

“Where are you going?” The boy scrambled to keep up. When Rita was angry, she had some life left in her yet, and she was sorely angry right now.

“I’m fixin’ to take you back to the store, young man. Where you’re gonna give everything back to Mel. And then you’re gonna sweep out his storeroom as an apology.”

The boy stopped walking. “Why? You need food. I was helping you. See, I’m useful. You don’t like Slim Jims? Show me what you want. I’ll get it next time. Though you’ll have to keep buying eggs. They’re too big to steal.”

She stopped walking, just so she could glare at him. “Stealing is wrong.”

“I’ve seen your cupboards. They’re empty. I can help.”

“The good Lord helps those who help themselves.”

“Yes, exactly!” His eyes lit up. She realized she might not have picked the best proverb.

“Child! Enriching yourself at the expense of others is a sin. I am poor. My cupboards are bare. But I am strong and clever. I will prevail, without resorting to a life of crime. Now march!”

She kicked at his leg, prodding him into moving. He scowled at her, but scuttled forward, looking more perplexed than angry. At the bottom of the hill, however, he balked, refusing to enter the store.

She took everything from him, went inside herself, and laid it on the counter.

“My apologies,” she informed Mel. “It won’t happen again.”

“He’s trouble,” Mel murmured, arms crossed over his chest.

Rita regarded him haughtily. “He said he was only trying to help.” She gave him one last glare then shuffled her way out of the convenience store with as much dignity as a half-crippled old woman could manage.

The boy had retreated across the street. He followed her back up the hill, looking more and more subdued. They were just approaching her house when he finally burst.

“That was stupid! You are stupid! That was my candy. I earned it. You had no right to give it back.”

“Rules matter.”

“No, no, they don’t. You don’t know anything!” Then he took her precious grocery bag and slammed it to the ground. She heard the eggs break, saw the yellow yolks begin to ooze inside the bag.

“Of all the darn fool things to do, child. Now we’ll both be hungry.”

“Good. Good, good, good!” the boy roared. He pulled back his arm. She thought he would hit her, punch her across the face. But at the last minute, he dropped his arm, turned, and fled.

She watched him go, his thin legs pounding, as he headed up the next rolling hill, toward the dilapidated Victorian. She wanted to be angry with the boy; mostly, she wondered what awaited him there.

Another minute passed. Then she laboriously bent over, retrieving the bag, cradling it carefully in her hands. She made it into the kitchen, where bit by bit, using a rubber scraper, she coaxed the runny yolks into a glass bowl.

She did the only thing she knew how to do, saving what could be saved.